Inkluzivní vzdělávání

New Czech Education Minister to focus on which diagnoses do not necessitate inclusive education

17.1.2018 6:32 The new Czech Education Minister, Robert Plaga, says that because educating children together inclusively concerns tens of thousands of children in the Czech Republic, he does not intend to cancel the recently-introduced programs designed for that approach. "It makes sense to discuss to what degree those children should be provided support, or, for example, how to most effectively get them the support they need," he said in an interview for news server iHNED.cz.  full story

Open Society Fund Prague conference on Romani children's access to education: How to explain the delay?

18.11.2017 18:05 An estimated 300 000 Romani people live in the Czech Republic, the equivalent of approximately 3 % of the overall population. In 2007 the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Romani children here face discrimination in education on the basis of their ethnicity.
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US expert from the Bronx on inclusive education: Involve schools whose principals are prepared for this work

17.5.2017 8:41 Speaking at the American Center in Prague on 15 May, the American education expert Monique Fletcher gave a talk about an education program that has proven effective in more impoverished areas of New York City, specifically in the Bronx. The seminar was organized by the Open Society Foundation Prague, which annually invites an expert on inclusive education to the Czech Republic.  full story

Czech survey finds most people not opposed to inclusion, but children living with disabilities or Romani children raise concerns

27.3.2017 17:28 Most people in the Czech Republic (53 %) are not against including children living with disabilities into mainstream classes as long as certain conditions are fulfilled. The groups of people who have extreme opinions about inclusion - whether against it or for it - are smaller.  full story

Interview with Czech Vice-Mayor who believes the Govt method for identifying Romani people crosses the line

17.3.2017 8:57

Ivan Langr, the Vice-Mayor of Liberec who is opposed to the "Romani census" that the Czech Government requires for its annual report on the state of the Romani minority, has taken a sharp stand recently. He has even compared the method of estimating who is Romani according to people's appearance to the approaches taken by members of the SS during the Second World War. 

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Karin Marques: A visit to the Romani children in the Slovak schools

17.3.2017 7:14 Karin Marques, a specialist in inclusive education with the Open Society Fund Prague, has published on the website of the foundation her impressions from a study trip to Slovakia organized by the League of Community Schools (Liga komunitních škol), which is involved in community education and inclusive education. News server Romea.cz publishes it here in full translation:  full story

Czech academic and education official discuss qualified estimates of Romani pupils

4.1.2017 10:50 Speaking on the "Crossing the Line" (Přes čáru) program on the Radio Wave station of public broadcaster Czech Radio, Czech Deputy Education Minister Stanislav Štech has discussed the findings of last year's qualified estimates of the numbers of pupils of Romani origin in the Czech primary schools, numbers that are sometimes inaccurately referred to as a "head count". Anthropologist Dana Moree was also in the studio to analyze the problems of such a "head count" and the reasons for it.  full story

Kate Lapham: School should be a place where children learn how to live in society as citizens, to treat each other with respect, and to solve problems

7.12.2016 17:30 Kate Lapham: School should be a place where children learn how to live in society as citizens, to treat each other with respect, and to solve problems
Interview with Kate Lapham, senior Program Manager, Open Society Education Support Program

First I would like to ask you about whether there are any interesting projects in Europe that we could see as successful examples of integration under challenging circumstances?
There has been a great experience in Northern Ireland around the integration of Catholic and Protestant students. The aim is to put these two groups of students, who had previously been experiencing or still are experiencing the impacts of the conflict there within their own family, into the same school environment so they can learn together and also live together again.  full story

Michal Mižigár: Inclusion is an opportunity for a better life

2.12.2016 20:38 Last month we marked the ninth anniversary of the victorious "D.H." judgment at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, in which 18 Romani people from Ostrava who had been unjustifiably reassigned to what were then called "special schools" saw justice done and defended their right to a quality education. I would like to share a story with you about why it is important for all children to have equal access to education.  full story

Tabloid interview with son of former Czech President about inclusive education features untruths

26.11.2016 10:10 The Czech tabloid Blesk has published an interview with Václav Klaus, Jr., the son of the former Czech President who was once the principal of a private high school in Prague, featuring the headline "Inclusion is a crime against disabled children". Tomáš Hečko, who is the parent of a child with Down Sydrome and a media professional, has reviewed the piece.  full story

Czech principal says new law is clarifying educational support for socially disadvantaged pupils

2.11.2016 14:22 As part of its WEEK FOR INCLUSION 2016, the Czech Society for Inclusive Education has published the following interview online with school principal Zdenka Juklová (age 59), who has led the Velké Hamry Primary School since 2015. Previously she was an educator at the Masaryk Primary School and Business Academy in the town of Tanvald and at the Secondary School of Glassmaking in Železný Brod.  full story

OECD publishes report on how resources are managed in the Czech education system

2.11.2016 11:26 The OECD has published a report about the situation in the Czech schools when it comes to the management of various resources - financial, human, material, etc. - so that equality in access to education and the quality of education generally can be increased. The assessment was implemented by a team of professionals, both expert staff at the OECD and external consultants.  full story

Commentary: Romani children in the Czech schools

1.11.2016 7:35 News server Romea.cz published a news item several days ago about the Czech Education Ministry tracking the number of Romani and socially disadvantaged children currently being educated using the "Framework Education Program for Pupils with Mild Mental Disability". That particular curriculum has been used up until now in the "practical" primary schools.  full story

Czech Education Ministry tracking Romani and socially disadvantaged pupils to prevent segregation

25.10.2016 13:58 As of November, the Czech Education Ministry will be researching how many Romani and socially disadvantaged children are studying in what kind of programs in both the mainstream primary and practical primary schools. The decision is in response to a judgment from the European Court of Human Rights in 2007 which found that the Czech Republic had discriminated against Romani children in education.  full story

Czech Republic: More than 30 % of those surveyed believe Romani children should not attend mainstream education

14.10.2016 13:38 More than three-fifths of the respondents to a survey conducted by the Center for Public Opinion Research (CVVM) in the Czech Republic agree that Romani children should be educated in mainstream classes, but approximately 30 % of respondents are opposed to the idea. The public continues to agree with the existence of various types of primary schools and multi-year college preparatory high schools.  full story

Czech Republic: Romani scholarship recipients study economics, history, IT, languages and medicine

11.10.2016 14:29 Hundreds of young Romani people are studying at college throughout the Czech Republic. Frequently they are the first people in their families ever to do so.
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Commentary: Corporal punishment at the "inclusive school"

4.10.2016 15:12 Recently I have been repeatedly asked to write something about inclusive education. The debate about this topic has become extremely polarized and I have not been able to figure out which end of the spectrum to start from if I want to avoid repeating arguments I have heard 100 times and adding fuel to the fire already burning around this subject.  full story

Yveta Kenety: We won't get rid of prejudice until we get to know each other

21.9.2016 10:44 Yveta Kenety (age 45) is from Přerov. She graduated from the Business Academy and Language School and then completed her studies in Bulgarian and Serbian at the Philosophical Faculty of Charles University.  full story

Miroslav Klempár: Parents make the final decision on where to enroll their children for school

17.9.2016 13:24 In the former communist Czechoslovakia of the late 1950s, the Government decided that Romani people were different from the rest of society and should therefore be educated separately. This differentiation on the basis of race led to today's two-track school system, in which a high-quality education is offered by mainstream schools where mostly non-Romani children are educated, and Romani children are disproportionately represented in what were once called the "zvláštní školy" (special schools) where a reduced education is offered for children who have mild mental disability.  full story

Jitka Hatinová: All children must get the same chance to be educated

16.9.2016 6:35 Even though Jitka Hatinová is a special needs educator today, her first desire was to become a nurse. In fact, she even graduated from nursing school.  full story